Noel Gallagher…

In our 2011/2012 winter special of Mayhem! Magazine we featured an interview with Noel Gallagher and got the latest about the row with his brother that made rock’n’roll history, what fans can expect from his new solo material and much, much more! You can read the full interview in our back issues online, just click here to check it out. Alternatively, we have provided a sneak preview below for you…

SO NOEL – YOU’RE RELEASING TWO ALBUMS OF SOLO MATERIAL. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TUCKING SONGS AWAY FOR THIS?

I’ve only really been writing five songs on every Oasis album for the last decade, so I’ve had lots of songs kind of floating about. But I haven’t really been stockpiling them for anything. I never really get to finish them off I just kind of work on the five best ones that’d be used for the record because the way it worked then, I would do half of the record and the other guys would do the other half. But I’ve always had lots of songs, you know, I kinda keep busy on the road and when I’m at home. Always keep switched on.

WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE – DO THEY SOUND LIKE OASIS SONGS?

The first one – the High Flying Birds one – I guess for fans of what I do there’s echoes of Oasis in there but there isn’t a guitar solo on the record until the sixth track – somebody pointed that out to me the other day and I was kind of, ‘Wish I could change that now’. So it’s not very guitar hero. And the other one: it’s far out man. If you’re aware of what The Amorphous Androgynous do, they worked on a remix for me on the last Oasis record where they managed to squeeze or stretch twenty two minutes out of one song and that album’s got eighteen tracks on it, it’s like some of it’s vaudeville, some of it’s actual space jazz, some of it’s Krautrock – seriously – some of it’s Krautrock, some of it’s soul, some of it’s funk – and that’s just the first song. It’s the furthest out I’ve ever been, let’s put it that way. All good though.

LIAM’S BEEN SAYING HE’S MUCH BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT AND ARE YOU BETTER OFF WITHOUT HIM?

We had a sweepstake on how long this would take. I went in at eight minutes – I don’t know, did I win? It’s not eight minutes is it? Two and half!? I’m sure he is, you know, I’m sure he is. Am I better off what? Financially? I don’t know. I don’t want to put a downer on it but I’ve never really seen myself as being a front man and I can see it being a major pain in the arse for me. Even a symbolic thing like standing in the middle of the stage – although I’ve done it before, I’ve done it in gigs for charity so always in my head I was like, well, I’m doing someone a favour so stuff ‘em, do you know what I mean? And now it’s kind of like I’ve got to stand in the middle of the stage and that’s gonna be weird.

IF WE LOOK AT THE LIST OF PLAYERS ON YOUR ALBUM, THERE’S A GUY CALLED MARK MEARY WHO PLAYS WINE GLASSES, WASHBOARD AND ELECTRIC KETTLE. WILL THAT BE GOING ON THE ROAD WITH YOU?

The electric kettle? No, the guy Mark he wasn’t even supposed to play on the record but he was just one of the guys who was operating the Pro Tools thingamajig and one day we were in the studio and we were having a discussion about how we needed a double bass on a track and he just casually piped up – he’s a Geordie – and he says, ‘I can play the double bass’ and I was like, ’What? Go and get it’. So off he went and the next thing was like we were going on about a saw, when you play a saw with a thing, and he just piped up that he could play one of those – well, go and get that then and what else can you play? And he came out with the wine glasses and all that. The thing about the electric kettle is obviously a joke, so, you know, we haven’t got the flight case for the kettle.

Please click here to read the full interview in our back issue online.

Follow us

About Mayhem! Magazine

Mayhem! is a free lifestyle magazine dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest culture, trends, fashions and celebs. Our monthly instalments are available to pick up from the countless distribution points scattered across Portsmouth, and surrounding areas at the beginning of each month.